


Migrations

by QueenOfRohirrim



Series: Rohirric Autumn [3]
Category: The Lord of the Rings (Movies), The Lord of the Rings - All Media Types, The Lord of the Rings - J. R. R. Tolkien
Genre: Autumn, Birds, Family Fluff, Fluff and Humor, Gen, Kid Fic, Little Èowyn, Pre-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-13
Updated: 2019-10-13
Packaged: 2020-12-14 03:07:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,419
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21008705
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/QueenOfRohirrim/pseuds/QueenOfRohirrim
Summary: Théodred tries to explain the concept of the great flocks flying South for the Winter.Éowyn thinks that it’s all rubbish and that she can give the birds a much better home in the Golden Hall.(Aka Little Eowyn attempts to smuggle a bird into Meduseld)





	Migrations

**Author's Note:**

> This one is a little on the sillier side but I just can’t shake the idea of a tiny Éowyn trying to smuggle animals into the Golden Hall XD

“Eowyn!” Eomer scolded his little sister from his seat on the front steps to the Golden Hall. “Stop feeding your lunch to the birds!”

“I’m not!” Eowyn insisted, shoving what remained of a biscuit down the pocket of her dress so that Eomer wouldn’t see. 

Around her, a gaggle of birds, large, small, and of every color and shape, were pecking at the ground where she had tossed them a few generous morsels of crumbs.

Autumn had come again to Edoras, and the great flocks were just beginning to pass through Rohan on their way to the far South, where the Winter would be mild.

“You can’t feed them from our front porch, Wyn.” Théodred told his little cousin from his place next to Eomer on the steps. “They’ll start to swarm and build nests. Then we’ll have an infestation on our hands!”

“Shut up!” Eowyn snapped at the prince. “The birds are my friends and I can feed them wherever I want!”

Théodred gave up at that point, letting go a heavy sigh and returning to work on greasing the leather of a bridle, while Eomer sat, very focused, trying to mend a strap on his horse’s breast collar. 

“Let Uncle tell her if she won’t listen to us.” The younger of the two boys spoke up quietly. “If she gets in trouble, it’s no fault of yours or mine.”

“Here, friends...” Eowyn called sweetly to the birds, which were beginning to grow in number already as Eowyn was offering them more food. “Have some more. I have plenty for you to share.”

Théodred frowned then, finding it impossible to not intervene. He didn’t want birds swarming near the doors of Meduseld, but more than that, he also didn’t want Eowyn to be in any trouble with the King when he discovered what she’d been doing to draw the swarms near.

“Wyn? Why don’t we go down to the pond?” He offered as a compromise. “You can feed the birds there and they won’t be trying to nest in our walls.”

Eowyn turned upon her heel to look at her cousin and gasped with delight at the suggestion. “Yes!” She declared. “Wait, Théodred! I have to go inside and get more bread for them!”

Eomer snorted and shook his head at his cousin. “You’re such a sap.” He told the prince.

“Hey, I am not.” Théodred huffed back at the younger boy, giving him a playful elbow to the shoulder. “I just want her to be happy. Don’t act like you don’t.”

“Of course I want to see her happy.” Eomer agreed, standing up from the steps and picking up the tack he’d been working on. “However, I don’t want her bringing any frogs back to stuff into my boots, so you’d better make sure she doesn’t try to smuggle anything out of the pond.”

“You have my word, dear cousin.” Théodred promised, reaching out a hand for Eowyn to take as she came running back out of the doors toward him. “Come on, Wyn. The sun will be going down soon. We’ll have to be quick.”

....

“Why do the birds come here, Dred?” Eowyn asked her older cousin curiously as she tossed one of her last handfuls of bread crumbs to a flock of ducks that were waddling around near the bank closest to her. “Uncle says their home is in the North.”

“For alot of them, I suppose.” Théodred agreed with his father’s statement. “They come here when it gets to cold up there in the North. Edoras is just a stop, though. They’re going South for the Winter.”

“South is down?” Eowyn asked, trying to draw herself a mental map of where exactly her feathery friends were off to.

“Right.” Théodred yawned, leaning back against a tall ash tree and skipping a small flat stone across the water. “If you look at a map, South is the direction below us. Gondor is South of here.”

“Will the birds go there?” Eowyn wondered, looking at the ducks that gathered around her with a very concerned expression. 

“I don’t know.” Théodred shrugged. “Maybe.”

Eowyn frowned, throwing a few more crumbs to the ducks as they came even closer. “It’s still cold in Gondor when Winter comes. Don’t you remember, Dred? We visited the Steward last Winter and there was Snow in the White City!”

“I do remember.” The prince nodded, smiling softly to reassure his cousin. He could see the concern in her eyes. “Don’t worry for them, Wyn.” He tried to tell her. “The birds will all find someplace warm to spend the Winter. They’ve been doing it since the beginning of time.”

Eowyn wasn’t convinced, and so she decided to help her friends in their search for a warm Winter home.

....

“What’ve you got there, Little Lady?” Háma inquired when the King’s niece attempted to sneak past him and the other guards with a suspicious sack of burlap clutched tightly in her arms.

Eowyn froze and though she tried to appear entirely innocent, she was quite certain now that her intentions would be found out.

“Nothing.” She lied anyway, clinging to the bit of hope that she might still get away without the guards discovering her new friend.

That small Hope was shattered, however, when the bag in her arms began to quack loudly, giving the entire plan away.

“Open the sack, Little Lady.” Háma told the girl. “Let’s see what you’ve brought this time.”

Eowyn sighed, more disappointed than she had been in a long while, and slowly lowered the quacking burlap bag down onto the ground.

When she untied the strings, and released the captive duck, a few of the men began to laugh. 

Eowyn wanted to cry.

“Hush now, the lot of ya.” Háma silenced the others before kneeling down before Eowyn. “Now what exactly were you plannin’ to do with this fella?” He asked the upset child gently. 

Eowyn sniffled as she watched the duck waddle to the edge of the stairs and then spread his wings out to fly back to the pond outside the city walls.

“I just wanted to keep the birds warm and safe.” She confessed. “Théodred says they need a home for Winter. I thought they could stay here.”

Háma hummed and nodded, as if he were actually seeing the logic in Eowyn’s plans.

“That would’ve been a kind thing to do, little one.” He admitted to her. “But birds don’t belong in the Golden Hall. They belong outside, where they’ve room enough to fly.”

“But they’ll freeze if we don’t let them inside!” Eowyn tried to persuade the door keeper, who only shook his head.

“Don’t you be worryin’ over that.” He told the girl. “They know their way South to the Sea. It’s warm enough there.”

The sea? 

Théodred hadn’t mentioned that when he had told her of the South.

“Are you sure there’s a sea where the birds are going?” Éowyn whimpered at Háma. “They won’t be frozen to death?”

“I promise, child.” The guard swore, reaching out to gently ruffle Éowyn’s golden hair. “Now why don’t you run along, Aye? Your Uncle will be wonderin’ where you’ve been all afternoon.”

Eowyn hesitated for only a moment but at last she came to a decision on Háma’s story. He wouldn’t have any reason to lie to her, and surely he knew more of what awaited the great flocks in the South than Théodred, who was still just a boy. 

It all sounded like the truth, but there was one last thing she needed to be sure of.

“You won’t tell Uncle about the duck, will you?” She asked Háma worriedly.

He chuckled as he stood up again to stand at his post. “So long as you don’t try and sneak any more of them through us, I don’t believe there’s any reason for me to tell the King.” He assured her.

Eowyn breathed out a long sigh and gave a quick nod. “Thank you.” She replied gratefully before hurrying to the doors to go back inside.

“Éomer!” She called to her brother once she had made it safely through the guards stationed in the great hall as well. “I have something to show you!”

She stuck her hand into her pocket then and grabbed up the frog she had found in the mud at the banks of the pond. 

Luckily, Háma had been too distracted by the duck and hadn’t seen what else the little Lady had been sneaking into the Golden Hall.


End file.
